The Risk of Releasing Patient Information on the Internet

The risk of releasing patient information on the Internet is always high regardless of whether the patient information originates from a medical or health care professional, or from a patient and his or her family. The transfer and release of medical records or documents of various kinds can come about through medical or health care facilities.

In medical and health care facilities, there may be few, if any, patient consent forms with regard to the release of patient information on the Internet. The same is true regarding rules and regulations about the release of patient information on the Internet. Do they exist? Over time, this will become an increasingly, serious area of concern with regard to doctor-patient confidentiality.

At this time, there should be some actively, enforced rules and regulations about the use of the Internet, with regard to the release of patient information. Is it possible to enforce them? The feasibility of implementing this may be questionable, at best.

Patient data, obtained by doctors and other medical and health care professionals, becomes information entered into computer files in medical and health care facilities. It happens continually all around the globe, as medical records take on various forms of documents and a wide variety of files, transferred from person to person, as well as from place to place, via the Internet.

Should patients allow the release of their information on the Internet? Can patients prevent this, if they choose not to allow it to happen?

One might suggest that only a patient, in conjunction with his or her family, should make the final decision about the release of his or her information on the Internet. That decision should be under the guidance of a patient’s medical or health care professional. When it comes to a question of patient preference, there will be those who allow this to happen, while there will be others, who object strongly. There may also be those, who do not wish to take a stand, in either direction.

It becomes an area of serious concern, when one sees patient information released on the Internet, by family members or close friends. This should always be discouraged, particularly in terms of social networking, as information can quickly fall into the wrong hands. At the same time, it happens every day.

Should medical or health care professionals release patient information on the Internet?

This question may raise controversy because medical and health care professionals use the Internet on a regular basis and thus, there is no easy answer to this question, at this time. There are instances when releasing patient information via the Internet could endanger the life of a patient. This includes data transferred by medical or health care professionals, to the facilities they use for patient care.

Patients are in a vulnerable position and preventing exploitation of them is important. The protection of patients is a concern to all medical and health care professionals. The unauthorized disclosure of their information is never acceptable.

Weighing the advantages versus the disadvantages, is it worth the risk to release patient information on the Internet?

At times, this may become a decision made only as the necessity arises. In other words, what one might decide is acceptable at one time, might not be a wise decision, in a different situation. Saving a patient’s life might indicate that the risk taken, is or has been worth it. If a human life is lost for any reason, data transfer on the Internet, might become an area with serious legal implications. For example, a doctor might require immediate information, like the medical history or blood type of a patient, in order to save his or her life, after a patient experiences an accident with an injury. If the patient’s life is lost, the release of information on the Internet may be subject to severe scrutiny. Remember that there are times, when those who take emergency measures to save patient’s lives are subject to severe criticism.

Text messaging on the Internet might appear to be the most effective and fastest method of communication at times, for instance, in a hospital emergency. At other times, the best option might be voice mail or e-mail. Note that at the same time, the doctor or other health care professional could place his or her own license at risk, by using any method of electronic communication.   

There are definitely both pros and cons with regard to releasing patient information on the Internet. At times, it may be necessary to weigh one side of the issue, against the other. There may be times, when it appears that there are no other possible options.

Release of patient information is essentially a moral, ethical and legal concern for doctors and other medical and health care professionals. The risk of releasing patient information on the Internet cannot and should not ever be under-estimated, as this kind of a scenario can quickly escalate into a serious moral, ethical and legal issue for any doctors, other medical and health professionals, patients and their families.

Medical facilities may also be liable if patient information appears on the Internet, in a manner that is not appropriate or professional. For example, a man in a medical facility has dementia and his children, as well as others, are engaged in a legal dispute about his estate. A doctor or health care person from the medical facility may be entering into regular dialogue via e-mail with a family member, about the patient’s mental health status.

What are the future implications of this communication in terms of the pending court case, particularly if the dialogue becomes less than professional, at times?    

While this may not prove to be a good scenario, at times, there are advantages to releasing essential patient information on the Internet. There are an increasing number of medical and health care professionals who use the Internet for medical records including short and long-term data storage. Many medical and health care facilities do the same thing. Data transfer via the Internet, is ongoing, all around the world. The reasons for this include time, space and convenience. There is a minimum amount of time and space involved in the transference of patient data, via the Internet. Patient records can be very large and are often difficult to store and thus, compressing data on files saves both time and space. Since medical and health care professionals have access to computers and other electronic devices, transferring them becomes a matter of convenience.     

Professionalism is the most important factor to consider in the release of patient information.

Patient confidentiality is important to doctors and other health care professionals. Part of being professional, involves maintaining a high level of confidentiality. Patient information that is on the Internet may no longer be confidential once it has become accessible to others. Medical and health care professions teach the importance of patient confidentiality. This is a trust relationship and that trust should not be broken.  

There is the always the possibility of human error on the Internet, as well as the reality of serious computer issues that can result from human error. While computers appear to be relatively safe and reliable, at least for the most part, computer crashes occur regularly, often at the hands of incompetent individuals. Malicious, computer hackers may try to obtain patient data files. One must understand that the margin of human error is relatively high.

Security or the lack thereof, becomes extremely important with regard to patient information. While computers may appear to be relatively secure, there is always the chance that these computer systems can break down. Server problems happen and important files disappear, sometimes quickly. They may not be retrievable. Firewalls frequently break down. Back up files may be available at times, but not always.     

There is also the question of increasing identity theft. Obtaining access to patient information or their medical records, is only one way  that someone engaged in identity theft can steal the identity of another person, so proper precautions must be taken.

In conclusion, one must suggest that the release of patient information on the Internet is of serious concern to medical and health care professionals, even though the Internet is widely used as a communication tool, at this time. This should continue to be an area of serious concern to doctors and other health care professionals, as well as to patients and their families. The risk factor involved in releasing patient information on the Internet is high and there will always be the possibility of potential problems. Medical and health care professionals, as well as patients and their families, must be alert to this potential danger.